Oil falls 2% as inventories rise, vaccine rollout stalls

LONDON : Oil prices fell for a fifth day running on Thursday on a stronger dollar, a further increase in US crude and fuel inventories and the weight of the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude fell $1.47, or 2.16%, to $66.53 a barrel by 1341 GMT. US oil was down $1.50, or 2.32%, at $63.10 after shedding 0.3% in the previous session. Both contracts are down more than 4% over the past five days.

“Short-term developments – stuttering vaccine rollouts and the build in US oil inventories – are driving sentiment, but the longer-term oil outlook is still encouraging,” said PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga.